


The sunsets in England

by melancholicInspiration



Category: Flubber (1997), Midsomer Murders
Genre: M/M, leave me be, shhhh im the king of crack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-23
Updated: 2016-09-23
Packaged: 2018-08-16 20:30:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8116465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melancholicInspiration/pseuds/melancholicInspiration
Summary: The sunsets in England are rarely nice, and even nicer when shared with someone you love.





	

**Author's Note:**

> The cutest ships are made of crack. -paps ur face- don't question the cute.

Ever since he had that fight with Michael, Giles never imagined falling in love with another man ever again. He had found God – some would say ran to God – to deal with his grief at realizing what he had done, confining himself to celibacy and a life free from both romance and any sexual endeavors. Becoming a Reverend in a small English town was nice, it was stable and reliable and after the first couple of years, he had begun to appreciate this new turn to his life.   
  


Sometimes, he would see Michael’s relatives coming to pray for God’s forgiveness, to confess their sins which they were afraid were because their son was gay or because of a sin of theirs. Those times in confessional broke the young Reverend’s heart, knowing he was responsible for the near-death of a man he once loved. Even though it was painful, and the longing to once again find the love he once thought lost to him forever, Giles faith in God remained resolute.   
  


Of course, that was before he noticed Phillip coming to his sermons. In many ways, he fit in with the usual crowd that came to their church, but there was something about him that told him that he wasn’t from around. For the next couple weeks, Giles saw him in the church sitting in the pews and looking up at him as if love-struck, reminding Giles of how he used to be. Of the men he used to give that expression.  
Usually, his sermons and his confessionals went by as if he memorized all the responses by heart and he knew all the deep dark secrets that humankind had to offer. Of course, hiding his own dark secret made very few things surprise him or catch him off guard. Unfortunately, Phillip was one of those things and the first time he heard what he thought was the new stranger entering the confessional booth, he looked down if only to avoid looking directly at him.  
Still, Giles managed to keep his cool like he did with all the members of his flock. Even though, as a few months passed, he definitely noticed that Phillip was beginning to harbor something that bordered on romantic feelings for him. It was flattering, and some part of him was comforted in the fact that someone still saw something worth loving. Or crushing. But he couldn’t acknowledge these feelings of the man whom he learned was a Chemistry Professor. Giles had given all that up for a life of relative solitude and peace. Anything else would be going against the promise he made himself, and the one he made to God.  
The older man should have realized that, at some point, he would eventually find love again or that love would find him. Perhaps, until he had learned to forgive himself for what happened all those decades ago – but that hadn’t happened yet. Love had evidently found Giles before forgiveness did. Was that a fault of God, or a sign that even he could be redeemed and given another chance?  
Giles hoped it was a sign of redemption. The chance of redemption, and the slight courage that came from that, led him to the line of thinking that maybe his could hang up his cassock. He didn’t originally intend for his priesthood to be so fleeting, and it felt like he was a traitor, but he had found the solution he was looking for. Giles had found redemption, a second chance, through God, so wasn’t it fair to take it?  
  
This was the major reason why Giles decided to listen to Phillip when he came up to him after the sermon ended, asking him out on a date. Giles was never one to play hard to get – even if being a priest meant doing just that – so he tentatively agreed to it. From the sounds of this ‘picnic’ that the Professor was planning, it seemed entirely innocent. 

Giles hadn’t meant to be late on the day they arranged, but he was still toiling over the decision of whether to leave the Church or stay. Surely, an openly gay priest in a happy relationship couldn’t stay in the Church? Definitely not in a rural town. He would have to move away, try to find some other purpose for the rest of his life. The taller man had fully expected his suitor to have left already, and the sight of the town and the sea from up here made him smile briefly. From near the top of the hill he had walked up, he could still see the bumbling Professor sitting on a blanket and looking down at what was, presumably, his hands. Not wanting to keep him waiting any more than he already had been, Giles made his way down the hill.   
Phillip’s head went up as he sat down beside him, still wearing his cassock for now, and the shorter man smiled. “I thought you wouldn’t c-come…” The stutter was one that Giles found almost endearing, even though the words stung. He was suddenly moved by the urge to touch his cheek, to kiss him and whisper all of those fears away.   
“Of course I would come.” Was the closest that Giles could come to an apology as he gave the other what likely passed for a timid smile. Whether it did its job in comforting the other man though, Giles couldn’t tell for sure, but Phillip smiled back so he was content in the assumption that it was.   
The sun was growing low over the town, casting long shadows before it would set in a few minutes. Even with the mild wind in the air, it was a beautiful sight. Giles had a hidden love of sunsets, and over the past decades, he had no one to share them with. As they ate, the conversation was stilting due to the nervousness of the two of them, but it eventually fell way to a beautiful silence. They shared a glass of wine, which Giles made what he thought was a joke about it, and Phillip laughed – both of them falling just as much in love with the moment as they were with each other.   
Giles was glad that it wasn’t an extravagant meal, he never had much of an appetite these days, and he found that he wanted to come here more to learn more about what brought Phillip to this small town of all places. He found that being around the other man, whom he found was only a few years younger than himself, brought him a peace that he had previously only found with God. Phillip wasn’t comparable to such a religious figure, but the same sense of relief and comfort came to Giles, and he hoped that maybe he had some similar effect to the other man. Phillip always looked so nervous whenever he came into the Church.   
Their hands met after their first glass of wine, at first accidentally, where Giles shyly drew his hand away, before finding their way back together. They shared a look, just as the sun began to set, and then Phillip nervously looked away, a blush coloring his face.   
When their lips met in a cautious, soft kiss, it was well worth waiting for. It was the same type of kiss that two young men would give each other, when they were pining over each other for weeks or months, finally gave in and accepted their feelings for each other. It was a kiss of recognition, of acknowledgement and acceptance.   
It was with that kiss that Giles finally decided what to do.


End file.
